


My head is bloody, but unbowed.

by LuneFaitLaFolie



Series: Your Skin is Poetry [1]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: First Tattoo, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-26
Updated: 2018-11-26
Packaged: 2019-08-29 19:23:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16750120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuneFaitLaFolie/pseuds/LuneFaitLaFolie
Summary: He seemed a little sadder, but other times a little happier. It was hard to explain.





	My head is bloody, but unbowed.

_Dex had changed._

He had the Samwell chop, his shoulders appeared more relaxed, it looked like he had more freckles, which didn’t really make sense because it had been Christmas break.

So you know, _Winter_.

He seemed a little sadder, but other times a little happier. It was hard to explain.

Some things were still the same.

His flannel shirts, his quick wit and snarky comments, his disgusting black coffee order, his little smirk when Nursey said something funny.

Nursey knew something happened okay, the whole team did, just, no one was game enough to ask about it.

Dex had gone home from Christmas, drove, through the snow like a nutcase. Everyone else flying. One of those weird years where everyone seemed to go home (or at least to _a_ home, _cough_ Bitty, _cough_ Holster).

By Christmas Eve Dex was back at the haus.

_Alone._

Things had definitely improved around the haus.

Walls that the team had wanted to be painted were painted, the heating was fixed, the creaky hallway no longer creaked, the thermostat no longer changed temperatures randomly, the dead light bulbs had been replaced, the multitude of kitchen appliances no longer made a weird buzzing noise every time you used them with the tv on, the sin bin was half empty and the green couch had been re-upholstered and smelt scarily clean, all things considered.

Dex had even apologised about the dib-flip freak.

Nursey didn’t exactly buy the reasoning, ‘ _I was stressed and didn’t think we would get along bla bla_ ’, Nursey could tell he meant the apology, but was convinced there was some other reason.

The change most notable, Nursey noticed on a snowy Thursday night.

Neither of them had classes the next day, so every week they made a point of staying up late to do homework, in an attempt to have a free day.

Dex was fresh out the shower, sweats on and shirtless, when he sat at his desk to keep working on some problem code that looked like rocket science to Nursey but was probably just website building.

“Showers free,” Dex mumbled before putting in his head phones.

Nursey looked over at the sound, preparing to get up and grab his towel before freezing.

It was not uncommon for Dex to sit at his desk shirtless, in fact, it happened pretty much every night after he showered, usually though, there was no tattoo.

Words.

A poem.

_Out of the night that covers me,_

_Black as the pit from pole to pole,_

_I thank whatever gods may be_

_For my unconquerable soul._

_In the fell clutch of circumstance_

_I have not winced or cried aloud._

_Under the bludgeonings of chance_

_My head is bloody, but unbowed._

_Beyond this place of wrath and tears_

_Looms but the Horror of the shade,_

_And yet the menace of the years_

_Finds and shall find me unafraid._

_It matters not how strait the gate,_

_How charged with punishments the scroll,_

_I am the master of my fate,_

_I am the captain of my soul._

 

Invictus.

A delicate olive branch underneath. Peace.

“Nice ink Poindexter.” Nursey said, _breathless_ , chest tight for reasons unknown.

“ _Huh_? Did you say something?” Dex asked, pulling his headphones out.

“I said nice ink.” Nursey replied, aiming for more confidence than the first but failing miserably.

“Oh, ah yeah, thanks, I got it done last week.” Dex replied with a nod.

“ _Cool_.” Nursey said, smiling a nodding, feeling awkward without any explanation as to why.

Dex gave a small grin and turned back to his computer, putting his headphones in.

“ _It’s beautiful_.” Nursey said, quiet enough that Dex wouldn’t hear over his music.

And if Dex hadn’t pressed play yet, well, that was his business.

**Author's Note:**

> send me prompts on tumblr!


End file.
